Cinema is in his blood

Director Vinayan’s son Vishnu Vinay will debut in the upcoming film History of Joy.

Vishnu Vinay

Vishnu Vinay is a busy man. He has a bunch of promotional activities to take part in but that does not mean he is not worried. Like any newcomer, Vishnu is worried about how the public would accept his debut movie, History of Joy. But he is not new to the arc lights. Vishnu grew up hearing about them from his father,director Vinayan. “The movie is releasing this month and a lot of promotional activities are going on right now,” he says and goes onto speak about the character he plays in the movie.

“I play Joy, a law student. The movie shows two stages of his life – one is about his life as a student and the other covers his life after college. Joy faces a lot of struggles in life, like many kids his age. But in the face of a huge adversity, he finds himself alone. What he does in life after that is what the movie shows us. This is a character that I could relate to myself.”

“I had no plans of acting,” says Vishnu, who is an aeronautical engineer by profession. “I wished to return home and get into films back when I was pursuing graduation in the US. But my family did not support the idea at that time because my dad was going through a lot of trouble with the ban. But I was always yearning to come back and I had decided at one point that I would return,” he says. “I was into writing. After my studies, I was thinking of taking up direction and I was also penning down stories. One of my friends got this project offer, he had discussed this story with me previously and I liked it very much.

Coincidentally, I happened to get the offer to play the character, so since I had heard the story before I was quite excited to take it up. I felt that this a character who has emotions that I can portray. It is not easy to get a project, so when I was offered one I did not want to push it away.” Speaking about how his father guides him, he says, “When I first told him that I wanted to direct, he sat me down and told me — ‘It’s not easy. There’s a lot of struggle and it will take time.’ He did not encourage me to take up direction. But when I got this offer he asked me to go ahead. He is of the opinion that acting is a far easier job.” History of Joy, directed by actor Vishnu Govindhan, will release on November 24.